Pru chief keeps Egg options under wraps

Mark Tucker, the new chief executive of Prudential, is to keep the City guessing on his strategic plan for the insurer until October when he is expected to outline the future of its online bank, Egg.

Admitting that the half-year profits announced yesterday were largely the work of teams put in place by his predecessor Jonathan Bloomer, Mr Tucker confirmed he was "looking at the options for Egg".

The botched sale last year of Egg, in which the Pru has a 79% stake, was one of the reasons Mr Tucker was able to return after a two year absence. The failure to sell the bank and a £1bn cash call on investors that followed ultimately cost Mr Bloomer his job.

A former professional footballer, Mr Tucker worked at the Pru for 17 years before leaving to become finance director of HBOS. Two months into his role, Mr Tucker said he was planning "evolution not revolution" as the insurer reported operating profit for the first six months to the end of June of £834m, up 31%.

A 2% rise in the dividend to 5.3p helped quash some fears that the group would be forced to cut the payment to save cash. The shares were among the fastest risers in the FTSE 100, ending 12p higher at 536.5p, well above the 308p at which the rights issue was priced last year.

Egg also reported its results yesterday and chief executive Paul Gratton refused to give any clues to his preferred outcome of the review. The online bank has endured a tricky 18 months during which time the Pru held an aborted auction of its stake and Egg was forced to pull out of an expansion into France. Its profit was £15m compared with a £1.7m loss last time.

Mr Tucker said: "This is a company I have enormous affection for and want it to go from a good company to a great company."

The Pru is also facing questions about whether it should keep its US business, Jackson National Life.